Steve Womack: “If you are going to fix a $2 trillion deficit and indeed quit digging this hole deeper, you can't do it on discretionary…”

Testing the boundaries a little, I would expect that.

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the last speaker, my friend, Earl Blumenauer. It was a source of pride for me to be here on the floor this morning and see the gentleman's last speech on the floor of the House of Representatives…

I think a lot of us up here would agree that the federal bureaucracy has become bloated, but I think we need to be a little bit more precise in downsizing a department with a mission as critical.

Before I close, let me say, as most of my colleagues know and as Mr. Clyburn pointed out, my presence here today in the face of a terrible, personal hardship--the loss of my wife of over 41 years--I hope is indicative of the importance of…